10 things in tech you need to know today
Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Monday.
- Uber will acquire food delivery startup Postmates in $2.6 billion all-stock deal, reports say. Sources told Bloomberg and The New York Times that the all-stock deal could be announced as soon as Monday.
- A group of European digital advertising groups on Friday criticized Apple's plans to require apps to seek additional permission from users before tracking them across other apps and websites. Apple last week disclosed features in its forthcoming operating system for iPhones and iPads that will require apps to show a pop-up screen before they enable a form of tracking commonly needed to show personalized ads.
- Indian food delivery startup Zomato is unable to access some $100 million in funding it raised from Chinese backer Ant Financial thanks to rising tensions between the two countries. The Financial Times reported the block was due to India's foreign investment laws.
- The UK is debating whether to reclassify a popular game mechanic, loot boxes, as gambling. Loot boxes are a mechanic where a player pays either with in-game currency or real money for a randomized in-game item. These items can sometimes be traded amongst players for real money as well.
- Tesla CEO Elon Musk over the weekend denied knowing Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite and associate of Jeffrey Epstein who was arrested last Thursday. Musk denied giving Maxwell and Epstein a tour of Space X's headquarters, and explained that he didn't know Maxwell despite being photographed with her.
- The UK may phase Huawei out from its 5G networks as soon as this year, according to Bloomberg. The UK had planned to allow Huawei kit in some of its networks, but may u-turn after pressure from lawmakers.
- Amazon and the creators of "Westworld" are making a TV series based on "Fallout", the hit video-game series. Amazon Studios tweeted a short teaser for the series on Thursday, July 2, which shows an old TV set and the words "please stand by."
- Homegrown video apps are surging in popularity in India after Chinese-owned TikTok was banned. One rival video app, Roposo, said it had added 22 million users in 48 hours.
- UK-based robot startup BotsAndUs has raised £2 million ($2.5 million) from VC investors Kindred Capital and Capnamic Ventures. The company's robots can offer 24/7 customer service and can help businesses to do on-site data collection and analytics.
- Tesla is mocking its those shorting its stock by selling red satin shorts. CEO Elon Musk has previously mocked short sellers, once sending short seller David Einhorn a box of shorts.
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